Hard Fork

hard fork

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In the world of crypto, a hard fork is when a blockchain network makes a radical change to its protocol. Imagine you are driving down a highway, and suddenly the road splits into two completely different directions. You have to pick a side because the two new paths don’t ever meet again. In tech, it is called being “backward-incompatible.”

In the event of a hard fork, one group of developers and miners proposes a change. This could be changes to the size of a block or how transactions are validated; they then “fork” the code. Those who upgrade move onto the new path, while those who refuse to change stay on the original path. This is done because the two versions no longer “speak the same language”; the chain literally splits into two separate, independent networks.

Some fitting examples include Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash in 2017. The split happened because of a massive debate over transaction speeds. One side kept the original Bitcoin ($BTC$), while the “rebels” created Bitcoin Cash ($BCH$). If you held Bitcoin at the time of the split, you suddenly found yourself owning an equal amount of the new Bitcoin Cash tokens too.

Another example would be the hard fork in 2016 between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. This was the aftereffect of a major hack, where the DAO and community couldn’t agree on whether to “undo” the theft. Most moved to the new Ethereum (ETH) we know today, while the purists stayed on the original “Ethereum Classic” (ETC) chain.

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In short, a hard fork is a permanent split that creates two separate currencies, two separate communities, and two different futures.

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